Processing apparatus

ABSTRACT

Processing apparatus for photographic material which contacts the material with a developer liquid and a fixing liquid in consecutive order, the developing liquid being applied by two spaced-apart applicator rollers partially immersed in such liquid, the first to contact the material being rotatably driven in a direction opposite to the direction of movement of the material and the second in the same direction as the material direction but at a substantially greater linear speed, and the fixing liquid is applied by an applicator roller partially immersed therein which is rotatably driven in a direction opposite to the direction of the material through the apparatus. Preferably, pairs of driving rollers are provided on either side of the array of applicator rollers.

United States Patent 15 3,682,082 Stievenart [451 Aug. 8, 1972 1541PROCESSING APPARATUS FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 1 lnvemorI EmileFrans Sfievemm, Hoboken, 1,462,764 11/1966 France ..95/s9 Be a r.. r A-[73] Assignee: Agfa-Gevaert Belgian Exami'le'4am1elS-Manhews AssistantExaminer-Fred L. Braun [22] Filed: Feb. 4, 1970 Attorney-William J.Daniel App]. No.: 8,533

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Feb. 4, 1969 Great Britain..5,959/69 [52] US. Cl. ..95/94 R, 95/89 A [51] Int. Cl. ..G03d 3/12[58] Field of Search ..95/89 R, 89 A, 94 R [56] References Cited UNITEDSTATES PATENTS 3,575,101 4/1971 Smith et al. .1. ..95/94 R 3,465,6639/1969 Calder ..95/89 3,301,156 1/1967 Roeber ..95/89 3,107,596 10/ 1963Arnold et a1 ..95/89 [57] ABSTRACT Processing apparatus for photographicmaterial which contacts the material with a developer liquid and afixing liquid in consecutive order, the developing liquid being appliedby two spaced-apart applicator rollers partially immersed in suchliquid, the first to contact the material being rotatably driven in adirection opposite to the direction of movement of the material and thesecond in the same direction as the material direction but at asubstantially greater linear speed, and the fixing liquid is applied byan applicator roller partially immersed therein which is rotatablydriven in a direction opposite to the direction of the material throughthe apparatus. Preferably, pairs of driving rolleis are provided oneither side of the array of applicator rollers.

5 Claims, 1 Drawing Figure 1 PROCESSING APPARATUS The present inventionrelates to a processing apparatus for liquid processing of exposedphotographic strip or sheet material. 7 n i More particularly, theinvention relates to a two bath processing apparatus for treatingimage-wise exposed silver halide material according to the stabilizationprocess.

Processing apparatus for carrying out the mentioned process generallycomprise two trays, one of them containing a highly alkaline activatorand the other the stabilizing solution, and a series of driven pairs ofrollers for advancing the exposed sheet or web of material through theapparatus and for removing most of the moisture as the copy leaves theapparatus. The application of the developing liquid occurs by the lowerroller of a pair of rollers which dips into the liquid and applies it tothe downwardly facing image-side of the material as it advances betweenthe nip of the roller pair. The application of the stabilizing solutionoccurs in a similar way by means of the lower roller of a roller pairwhich rotates in the stabilizing liquid and by passing thereafter thematerial through the liquid in the tray.

A disadvantage of the application of a solution by means of the lowerroller of a pair of rollers which ensure the advance of the material isthe poor wetting of the material as a consequence of the smallperipheral speed of the rollers.

. The present invention aims at providing an improved processingapparatus wherein processing liquid is applied partly by applicatorrollers the surfaces of which move in a direction opposite to thedirection of advance of the photographic material, in the planes inwhich such rollers contact that material.

According to the present invention, a processing apparatus for liquidprocessing of exposed photographic strip or sheet material comprises adeveloping station with a tray containing developing liquid at aconstant level and applicator rollers rotating partly immersed in thetray to apply liquid to the material as it passes over the rollers, therotation of the first of such applicator roller is such that along thecontact plane the direction of travel of the material and the rotationof the roller have opposing directions, whereas the rotation of thesecond or other applicator rollers downstream of the said firstroller issuch that the directions of advance of the material and of such furtherroller or rollers are equal at the common plane, and the peripheralspeed of such further applicator rollers is higher (preferablysubstantially higher), than that of the speed of travel of the material;in addition there is a fixing station with a tray containing fixingliquid, an applicator roller which rotates partly immersed in said trayto apply fixing liquid to the material passing over such roller andwhich rotates in a direction opposite to the direction of advance of thematerial in the common plane; also there are pairs of driven transportrollers rotating out of contact with the processing solutions, fortransporting the material through the apparatus. Preferably theapparatus includes means for deflecting the course of the materialdownstream of the applicator roller at the fixing station, to guide thematerial through the fixing liquid.

Preferably, guide members are provided which determine a path for thematerial which runs closely over the applicator rollers so that thecontact between the material and the said rollers extends over at leasta few angular degrees of the roller periphery.

The level of the liquid in the trays may be kept constant by a supplysystem comprising in a known way an inverted bottle with processingliquid which is supplied to a tray according to the bird fountainprocess.

The liquid which is carried along by the photographic material andsqueezed off by outlet rollers may be collected in a separate holder.However, the apparatus may also comprise in a known way a supply systemwhich operates in a closed circuit and which comprises a container forthe processing liquid, pump means, and overflow means controlling thelevel of the liquid in the trays.

The developing solution may contain the developing agent when thedeveloping occurs according to the conventional silver halideprocessing, but preferably the apparatus according to the invention isused in a process wherein the developing agent is incorporated into thephotographic material rather than in the developing liquid, so thatatmospheric oxidation of the developer by its exposure to the air isavoided.

The rollers of the apparatus may either rotate continuously even betweenthe feeding of successive sheets through the apparatus, or be controlledby a microswitch or the like which starts the rotation of the drivingand/or the rotation of the applicator rollers upon its actuation by asheet or web which is introduced into the apparatus.

The invention is described hereinafter more in detail by way of examplewith reference to the accompanying drawing which is a diagrammaticlongitudinal sectional view of the apparatus according to the invention.

The apparatus generally comprises a housing 10 with an inlet opening 11and an outlet opening 12 for the photographic sheet to be processed. Thecover 13 is removable and gives access to the interior of the apparatusin view of the maintenance of the rollers and the trays. The rollers andthe trays extend transversally of the path followed by a sheet throughthe apparatus, and are mounted between two opposed lateral walls, one ofwhich is indicated by the numeral 35.

The transport of a sheet through the apparatus is ensured by pairs ofrollers 15, 16 and 17 which are provided with a resilient covering ofbutyl rubber or the like and which are urged towards each other under acertain amount of spring load, eg by means of a rubber ring arrangedaround the bearings of the two rollers. The locating of the rollers isdone by means of elongate recesses 18, 19 and 20 in the two opposedlateral walls in which the bearings of the rollers tightly fit.

The tray of the developing station comprises two sections 21 and 22between which a wall 23 is provided. The tray of the fixing stationcomprises a deep section 24 and a shallow section 25. In a known way thetrays have an extending portion (not shown) at one lateral end intowhich dips the cap opening of an inverted bottle containing theprocessing liquid. The rim of said cap opening determines according tothe bird fountain principle the level of the liquid in the tray.

In the tray sections of the developing station two rotatable applicatorrollers 26 and 27 are provided which ,have a smooth covering of hardpolyvinyl chloride. The rotation of the first applicator roller is suchthat the direction of travel of the material and the rotation of theroller have opposite directions along the contact plane whereas thesecond applicator roller rotates in a direction opposite to that of thefirst roller. A guide member 28 is provided over the applicator rollers.At its lower side this guide member has flat faces which determine forthe sheet of path which, if it were followed straight through, would belocated below the most elevated part of the roller peripheries. However,in addition to said flat faces concave or sloping wall portions 29 and30 are provided which leave a gap of about 0.8 mm with respect to theroller peripheries and which permit the sheet to deviate from the linearpath and to pass under a slight pressure over the rollers, therebycontacting them over about 15 angular degrees.

The first roller rotating in a counter direction in respect of the sheettravel, the point where the development of the sheet starts isaccurately determined. This is in contrast to a lick-roller whichrotates in the same direction as a sheet at the common plane, and whichcauses uneven development results as a consequence of lick-noses whichmake the development start at an earlier time.

The second applicator roller provides for a renewed supply of processingliquid onto the sheet in order to let the development process continuein optimum circumstances. The roller rotates oppositely to the firstapplicator roller in order to support the advance of the sheet.

The wall 23 constitutes no proper separation of the bodies of liquidcontained in the two tray sections although its upper edge extendsalmost as far as the level 31 of the liquid in the tray, but it ratherprovides a narrow gap in respect of the roller peripheries at the zonewhere they perform an upward movement so that a proper wetting of therollers is obtained and no uncontrolled turbulation in the liquid massbetween the two rollers is created.

In the fixing station an applicator roller 32 is provided which rotatesin the direction as indicated and over which the sheet is guided by theguide member 33. Said guide member urges a sheet downwardly behind theroller so that it becomes completely immersed in the fixing solution inthe section 25 before the liquid is squeezed H by the outlet roller pair17. Fingers 36 keep the sheet immersed in the liquid and make it followthe path determined by the curvature of the section 25.

By the application of the fixing liquid by the counter rotatingapplicator roller 32 the developing action is abruptly and uniformlyinterrupted so that all portions of the sheet will have been subjectedto the same developing action.

The bearings of the applicator rollers 26, 27 and 32 are located withinthe corresponding trays and the driving of said rollers occurs throughgears which are located above the trays and mesh with a gear which isprovided at one extremity of each applicator roller. Said uppermostlocated gears are fitted to shaft extremities projecting from a driveunit which is located in the apparatus at one lateral side of the trays.Other shaft extremities projecting from the drive unit engage the shaftsof the upper rollers of the pairs of rollers 15,

l6 and 17 through a conventional slot and pin coupling, and they aredriven by an electric motor through a conventional chain and sprockettransmission. Since a drive mechanism of the described kind is old inthe art, it has not been shown in the drawings.

In the operation of the apparatus, a part of the processing solutionwhich is applied to a sheet in the developing zone is squeezed off bythe pair of rollers 16 and flows from the lower of said rollers into thetray 37, whereas the stabilizing solution which is applied to the sheetin the fixing zone is squeezed off by the pair of rollers 17 and flowsinto the tray 38. The capacity of the trays is sufiiciently great forenabling the processing of several hundreds of sheets. The emptying ofthe trays may occur through flexible conducts fitted at one lateral sideand normally closed by bending or by a tap. In the present apparatus,the peripheral speed of the transport roller pairs amounted to 2.40cm/sec whereas the peripheral speeds of the applicator rollers 26, 27and 32 were respectively 6, 9.6 and 16 cm/sec.

It will be apparent that the invention is not limited to the describedembodiment. The apparatus as described may be used for the applicationof other photographic solutions in order to develop, and to fix theimage of the processed material, i.e. to render it permanent orsemi-permanent.

The developing station may comprise more applicator rollers than theones shown but it will be understood that the first applicator rollershall always rotate in a direction opposite to sheet travel at thecommon plane. The rotation of any applicator roller following the secondat such station is less critical, except for the fact that in the eventthat any such further roller rotates in the same direction as the firstroller, it should not impede the sheet advancement.

The ratio of the peripheral speed of the applicator rollers to that ofthe transport rollers may differ from the value mentioned in the exampledescribed hereinbefore, when other materials or other solutions have tobe treated, when the surface structure of the material composition ofthe applicator rollers is different, etc.

We claim:

1. A processing apparatus for use in liquid processing exposedphotographic strip or sheet material, comprising a developing stationwith a tray for containing developing liquid, at least two spaced apartapplicator rollers which are located partly within such tray forapplying developer liquid to the photographic material to be processedand are located one behind the other along the path followed by suchmaterial through the apparatus, a fixing station with a tray forcontaining fixing liquid, at least one applicator roller located partlywithin such fixing station tray for applying fixing liquid to thephotographic material, pairs of driven transport rollers located outsidesaid trays for transporting photographic material through the apparatusso that it travels over and in contact with said applicator rollers inthe developing and fixing stations, and means for driving saidapplicator rollers so that the surface of the first developing liquidapplicator roller to be encountered by photographic material as it istransported through the apparatus has a direction of motion in the planeof contact with such material which is opposite the direction oftransportation of such material, the next developing liquid applicatorroller rotates in the opposite direction to the first developing liquidapplicator roller and at a peripheral speed higher than the speed oftransportation of the photographic material through the apparatus, andthe first such fixing liquid applicator roller, rotates in the samedirection as the first developing liquid applicator roller.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein guide members are providedfor causing photographic material as it travels over an applicatorroller to retain contact with such roller over a portion of the rollerperiphery subtending an angle of at least 3. Apparatus according toclaim 2, comprising means for constraining photographic strip or sheetmaterial to for containing fixing passes from the fixing liquid ap-

1. A processing apparatus for use in liquid processing exposedphotographic strip or sheet material, comprising a developing stationwith a tray for containing developing liquid, at least two spaced apartapplicator rollers which are located partly within such tray forapplying developer liquid to the photographic material to be processedand are located one behind the other along the path followed by suchmaterial through the apparatus, a fixing station with a tray forcontaining fixing liquid, at least one applicator roller located partlywithin such fixing station tray for applying fixing liquid to thephotographic material, pairs of driven transport rollers located outsidesaid trays for transporting photographic material through the apparatusso that it travels over and in contact with said applicator rollers inthe developing and fixing stations, and means for driving saidapplicator rollers so that the surface of the first developing liquidapplicator roller to be encountered by photographic material as it istransported through the apparatus has a direction of motion in the planeof contact with such material which is opposite the direction oftransportation of such material, the next developing liquid applicatorroller rotates in the opposite direction to the first developing liquidapplicator roller and at a peripheral speed higher than the speed oftransportation of the photographic material through the apparatus, andthe first such fixing liquid applicator roller, rotates in the samedirection as the first developing liquid applicator roller.
 2. Apparatusaccording to claim 1, wherein guide members are provided for causingphotographic material as it travels over an applicator roller to retaincontact with such roller over a portion of the roller peripherysubtending an angle of at least 10* .
 3. Apparatus according to claim 2,comprising means for constraining photographic strip or sheet materialto travel into and out of the tray for containing fixing liquid as suchmaterial passes from the fixing liquid applicator roller.
 4. Apparatusaccording to claim 1, wherein there is, in the tray of the developingstation, an upstanding elongated wall which separates the firstdeveloping liquid applicator roller from the next developing liquidapplicator roller.
 5. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein means isprovided for maintaining the tray at the developing station filled withdeveloping liquid up to a constant predetermined level.